Imagine Festival Puts Music and Attendees First in Outstanding Second Annual Weekend

Every once and a while you get lucky enough to have a gathering of unbelievable music and good-hearted people just dropped into your backyard. This was luckily the case for this ATLien, familiar with journeying far and wide in search of the perfect lineup, this past August had to look no further than a park down the street.

Imagine Festival descended upon Old Fourth Ward park in Atlanta for it’s second annual two-day underwater themed event, this year starring Tipper, GRiZ, The Glitch Mob, Chromeo, Datsik, and Dada Life. The grounds started at the Masquerade with its outdoor amphitheater and spilled into the adjacent park complete with the picturesque Clear Creek Basin and surrounding modern apartment homes. So even for the out of town guests of Imagine who didn’t call the grounds their personal backyards, they were still quite literally in someone else’s.

Though the event had a relaxed, neighborhood feel to it, for veterans of 2014’s inaugural event, the increased attendance and packed out stages were felt. The Oceania and Amazonia stages were standing room only from around 7 p.m. on, still comfortable and easy to maneuver, but much more active than expected. In the grand scheme of things though this is really a great problem to have. Festival planners did an amazing job of building from last year, and giving people reasons to want to experience this up and coming event. Those reasons can be summed up by three characteristics that especially shone through in the heart of Atlanta just a few weekends ago.

Minimal Production Makes Maximal Impact

Imagine proved that you don’t need a stage built of EDC proportions to make an impact on an attendee’s experience. Even on a smaller scale you can impress festival goers via trampoline acrobats, fire artists, even UFO’s hovering over the crowd. It’s obviously not the same as staring at a giant talking book, but I think a large percentage of electronic music listeners are finding solace more and more at these grassroots festivals, especially as the EDM bubble continues to burst and companies like SFX go bankrupt. This event managed to touch every person and make them feel noticed for being there. Festivals should be about the people and the music, and Imagine’s tactful focus on these aspects will keep us coming back.

Fine-Tuned and Diverse Lineup

Imagine’s 2015s lineup plucked on the heart strings of every style of electronic music lover. From the squishy Tipper fanatics to those dying to transport to Dada land, there was not just something for everyone….but something to love for everyone.

ill.Gates x KJ Sawka into G Jones, GRiZ, Shpongle, and Tipper/The Glitch Mob doesn’t get much more perfect for this basshead. While the Glitch Mob vs. Tipper set conflict wasn’t ideal, stages were just feet away from each other, so any complaints here were just noise in a crowd of otherwise very satisfied festival goers.

Honest Hype

The Imagine team took to the streets like no other. Pre-sale tickets just days after the 2014 fest’s conclusion, Billboards outside other major festivals, and flyers and social media presence like we’ve never seen before. Though killer business strategy was no doubt key in boosting Imagine to a 25K person attendance in only it’s second year, word of mouth absolutely played a huge factor here, and will continue to do the same in 2016.

Nothing grades the success of a festival like happy fans, and I haven’t seen as many glowing faces exit a fest like that all year. No one was fighting off exhaustion from 4 days of raging. There were no adverse weather conditions to account for besides an early storm on Sunday. This kick back and relax mentality, whether intended or not, exceeded many expectations, and earned a guaranteed blocked off weekend in August for a good bit of the Southeast electronic dance music community.

It will be exciting to see what the future brings for Imagine Festival, although the repurposing of the land that houses the Masquerade and adjacent 1.32 acres in the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood for residential land will certainly effect the 2016 event. Tickets for Imagine Fest 2016 are on sale now for just $69 at http://imaginefestival.com.